New Year’s Resolutions & Einstein.

Towards the end of the year, many of us start looking at the next. What do we want that new year to bring? We have great intentions about quitting smoking or other unhealthy habits. We start buying new sports gear and are convinced that 10k run, if not marathon, will happen in the new year. To support that process, and to get rid of these additional kilos, we accept that great offer the gym has. Under the Christmas tree we might even promise ourselves to be more generous and loving. To forgive that person who harmed us and make up with the person whom we’ve harmed. Make that friendship work again. Stop looking at other ‘interesting’ people and recommit to our relationship. Start that master, go for that promotion. Meditate frequently. Go to yoga class. Stop spending so much on useless stuff and be more respectful to the environment. All that good stuff!

Recognize it? How much of this is also on your list this year?

And… how much is this list different from last year or the year before?
For so many of us Einstein’s definition of insanity is applicable! We expect different results without changing our habits. Yep, pretty insane!

There is good news! Because ‘in the midst of difficulty lies opportunity’ and you probably even know that ‘no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it’ so you are willing to learn and change your shit.

Since you don’t care so much about ‘becoming a (wo)man of success, but rather become a (wo)man of value’, let’s ‘look for what is and not for what you think should be’.

Since it is a very ‘important thing to not stop questioning – curiosity has its own reason for existing’ after all – let’s look at the lessons last year gave us so generously! You’ve tried your very best and still you find yourself at more or less the same place as the year before. So, use that ‘special talent of yours: be passionately curious’! Before looking ahead, look back at what history has to teach you. From those lessons, imagine how you could do things differently. The trick is to not copy paste the knowledge you’ve harvested from those lessons. ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world’! To not make the same mistakes as last year(s) you have to rethink and re-invent yourself, your life. Maybe even ‘believe in intuitions and inspirations’! Because sometimes you don’t know why but you say to yourself ‘I don’t know that I am right but I simply feel that I am right’. So just follow your gut feeling!

It might also help to ‘look deep into nature to understand everything better’. Since ‘all religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree’. From there you might find different ways to look at this year’s resolutions and be in awe with mysterious results! After all, ‘the most beautiful experience we can have is a the mysterious’ one.
Sometimes life might get in the way and you feel stuck. You might consider giving up. Don’t! Remember ‘life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving’!

Well, maybe at the end of the day all these smart ass quotes aren’t going to make any difference to you. All that matters is that you, in all honesty ‘see with your own eyes and feel with your own heart’.
You don’t need to be an Einstein to be honest to yourself and understand if your behaviour will lead to the same results as last years or if it will finally be different this time. Because Einstein really had a point when he said that ‘insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results’.

Just saying.

©Alex Verlek, December 2019.